Kitchen Before and After

 We purchased this house as a foreclosure and oh my goodness did the former owners thrash it!  The very first thing we did before moving in was the kitchen and the floors.  I'd been through enough rehabs to not want to wash dishes in the bathtub ever again. For the life of me I can't find the before picture of the kitchen so this one will have to do.  My two heroes {my dad and kev} are hard at work getting ready for paint, tile and granite.  I had a budget of $8000 for the kitchen.  For EVERYTHING.  Paint, ovens, rangetop, vent hood, dishwasher, granite, tile, faucet ... EVERYTHING.  That meant not doing anything with the layout, but thanks to ebay and A LOT of DIY we made it under budget.   This kitchen is pretty tiny, and the storage in it is horrible.  BUT it is mine, and it is actually my favorite room in our house in spite of its shortcomings.  We've got a lot of unconditional love around here!  Here are the deets: 

 Counter top tiles.  In this shot you can also see the cupboards.  We were able to pop off the decorative molding to paint a smooth surface.  We used paint called Meadowbrook for the cabinets.  (I get a designer discount from Kelly Moore from when I used to stage homes.) 

 A lot of people would love to have double ovens.  I'm assuming they wouldn't want them in this color.

Electric cook top.  Good thing it was plumbed for gas, because I am a much better cook on a gas range ... as far as you know!

 Ahhh.  Getting better already!  Due to budget we had to use the same cupboards. Here they are with the bases and frames painted. 

 Here is Kev, granite is installed and some of the doors are on the cupboards.  He is putting up the glass backsplash.  When you are Dutch you are cheap, so you better know how to DIY.  My hubby is frugal and hunky and handy...   I did a good job picking him out!

I would only recommend that you get Absolute Black granite if I really hated you and thought you should spend the rest of your life trying to keep it clean.

 This is where the "after" pictures start!  This is the view from the dining/living room.  You can tell paint changed the life of this kitchen!  4 different types of it if you count the chalkboards.  Wall color is Charro and all trim work is Carlton Clay, btw.  

I knew you were coming, so I cleaned the granite and locked the kids outside.

 See?  No fingerprints ... yet!

 I purchased everything appliance wise on ebay.  This is my amazing, gigantic, indestructible sink.  I {heart} my sink. 

 This is my favorite picture of Mr. Terpstra and me.  It makes me smile when I'm up to my elbows in dirty dishes.  Oh man I love those shoes.  Anyway...

 The cooktop was another ebay purchase.  This is a closer shot of the cabinets.  Pulls are from IKEA.  The chalkboards keep us organized.  Kinda.

 Thanks to ebay I was able to find double ovens that fit my budget. 

 The floor is a pebbletec sort of thing that feels like a spa treatment on your feet.  It was not counted in my budget since we did it a year later.  If you drop trailmix on it you can't even tell.  In fact there are probably a few raisins hiding out in this picture.

 Seating for my three kiddos.  I found the stools at Ross and DD's.

The vent hood was part of my ebay order.  It's my second fave thing in our remodel!

So there you have it!  My favorite room:  our kitchen before and after.  We are so happy with the results and the fact that we did everything ourselves except install granite.  {If I had to do it over I would NEVER do black, but man does it look nice when it is clean!}  My green tile backsplash adds so much to our kitchen, and has been the inspiration for green throughout our house.  Now if I could only afford a cook...

For other great "before and after's" visit the CSI project ...